Suu Kyi is widely respected in Japan, a place that holds special feelings for the lawmaker and National League for Democracy party leader, who endured nearly two decades of house arrest, because of her historical ties to Japan.

She is scheduled to go to Kyoto in central Japan, where she studied at a university nearly three decades ago. Her father, independence hero Gen Aung San, also spent some time in Japan in the 1940s.

Wearing her trademark flowers in her hair, Suu Kyi has been thronged by Japanese media. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner was set to give speeches at prestigious universities in Kyoto and Tokyo.